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by YlvaUllsdotter



Series: Ends And Means [3]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: 9 squares 3 fics, Canon language, Case Fic, Drinking, Mentions of canon character death, Other, Tumblr, Tumblr Challenge, canon violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-15
Updated: 2018-03-15
Packaged: 2019-03-31 19:11:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13981500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YlvaUllsdotter/pseuds/YlvaUllsdotter
Summary: Heading back to Lawrence, KS, the Winchesters are hopeful that they are on the trail of the rogue angel, Sister Jo.





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**Author's Note:**

> Here’s my entry for @thing-you-do-with-that-thing’s 9 squares for 3 fics challenge on Tumblr. I decided to go for a three part series, each part covering three separate squares. There are no pairings in any of the fics as this is a three-part case-fic. My first case-fic in fact. It takes place after 13.13 Devil’s Bargain.
> 
> The series is called Ends And Means. This is part 3.
> 
> As always, I apologize for nothing.

_ “Uhm, Sam? I think this is something.” He held out the slip of paper. Sam took it and examined it, his eyes narrowing. It only had four words on it, two of which appeared to be a signature. _

 

_ Lawrence, KS _

_ Sister Jo _

* * *

 

“You think Ketch it working with ‘Sister Jo’?” Dean’s voice contained just the slightest trace of hope. The rogue angel had slipped them before, maybe this was a lead and they could take out two birds with one stone.

“I wouldn’t put it past him. I wouldn’t even put it past him to work Asmodeus and Sister Jo at the same time. It’s his style, hedging his bets, covering his ass six ways from Sunday.” Sam studied the note with an intensity only he could muster for a slip of paper with four words on it.

“Well, I guess we’re going home.” Dean tried to keep the enthusiasm out of his voice. He tried to keep it out altogether, not wanting to get his hopes up. Still, it was there, lingering, in the background.

It was an 18-hour trip back to Lawrence from Wells, and most of the trip was spent in silence, each of the brothers brooding over what had happened, and what was waiting for them in their hometown. Sam finally fell asleep for a while, his head propped against the window. When Dean felt himself drifting, he pulled over and Sam took over driving, Dean catching up on some sleep in the backseat. When they finally pulled into Lawrence, Dean was in the driver’s seat again and Sam was on his laptop, checking for demon omens in the area, or any kind of signs of the supernatural. 

Rolling through town, Dean kept an eye out for the motorcycle Ketch had disappeared on, and also for any sign of Sister Jo.

“Hey, Sammy. What did Cass call Sister Jo?” 

Sam looked up from his laptop, frowning in thought. “Anael, I think. Why?”

“Just curious. I wonder why an angel would go rogue? I mean, I thought all the angels hated Lucifer, and yet here she is, working with him.”

“Yeah. I don’t know. Maybe she never got invited to the angel parties?” Sam smirked, but there was no humor in it.

“Heh, yeah. That’s a new one for us, isn’t it? Outsider angels.” Dean tried to keep his tone light, that pesky spark of hope sneaking up on him again.

Sam gave him a bitchface and went back to his laptop, and Dean continued to scan for any sign of the people they were looking for. At the other end of town, he spotted a motel and turned in. He left Sam in the car while he went to get them a room, and almost had to poke his brother to get his attention after he had pulled the car up in front of it. 

“Sam!”

“What!” Sam looked up and finally noticed where they were. “Oh. Yeah.” He grabbed his things and lumbered after Dean into the room. It was just another motel room. Dingy wallpaper, weird stains on the carpet, and that ever-present motel room smell. 

“So, little brother. What did you find on that magic box of yours?” Dean prompted Sam, to get him out of his shell.

“Uh, well, not much. Actually...nothing.” Sam looked dejected.

“Yeah, well, maybe...maybe they haven’t gotten here yet?” Dean tried to remain positive.

“Yeah, maybe.” Sam dropped his laptop on the small table and disappeared into the bathroom. A minute later, Dean heard the shower start. Figuring Sam would be busy for at least half an hour, Dean decided to go get them something to eat. It was too late in the day to get anything constructive done, so they may as well take the time to relax. Not like they got the opportunity for that all that often.

When Dean got back with bags of burgers, chili cheese fries, and a salad for Sam, and beer, of course, Sam was out of the shower, lounging on one of the beds and channel surfing. He managed to give off enough of a vibe that he wanted to be left alone that Dean finished his burgers and fries in record time and took off.

“I’ll be at the bar across the road. Call me if you find anything.” Dean headed out before Sam had time to respond, walking quickly across the road to the bar. He had never been to this particular bar before, but all the same, it felt familiar. The same smell of stale beer and peanuts; the same surly bartender behind the same bar; the same old tunes on the same old jukebox. It almost felt like home.

It was still early in the evening, meaning there were only a few people at the bar, most of them looked like regulars. When the bartender came over, Dean ordered a shot of whiskey and a beer, downing the shot as soon as it was set in front of him. He chased the warmth of the whiskey with a sip of cold beer and turned slightly on his stool to keep a casual eye on the room. 

Several hours later, Dean stumbled back to the motel room, pleasantly buzzed. Long years of practice let him get in and into bed without waking Sam and soon the only sound that could be heard were the soft snores of the brothers.

A beam of sunlight poking him in the eyes woke Sam up the next morning. By the fact that Dean was still mostly dressed, he deduced his brother had come in late the previous evening, and probably drunk off his ass. He sighed and shook his head as he pulled on his running shoes. 

Sam kept a leisurely pace as he jogged around the block, enjoying the exercise while also keeping an eye out for anything ‘weird’. When he got back, Dean was still sleeping. When he got out of the shower, Dean was still sleeping. Sam rolled his eyes at his older brother and headed out to the diner he had seen nearby to get some breakfast. He left a note for Dean to come join him when he woke up.

The diner had pretty good coffee and Sam was on his second cup by the time Dean shuffled in, still looking like he was hungover. At least he had changed his clothes. Sam got the attention of the waitress and by the time Dean had sat down she was there with a cup and a fresh pot of coffee. They ordered their food, the waitress vainly trying to get sleepy Dean’s attention the whole time, to Sam’s amusement. After she had gone back to put in their order, Sam mentioned it.

“Dude, she is so into you.”

“What? Who?” Dean was still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, clutching the coffee mug as if it was a lifeline.

Sam chuckled. “The waitress. She was doing everything but throwing herself at you.”

“Oh.” Dean looked over to check her out, making her blush. “Yeah. Maybe some other time.” 

“Whatever, man. So get this, I was doing some research here while you were sleeping off whatever you drank last night.” 

Dean gave his brother a tired bitchface. “Ok. And?”

“And...nothing. There are no omens, no signs, no nothing. So I was thinking, Ketch had a pretty big jump on us. What if he came back to his room and planted that note to throw us off his trail?”

Dean frowned as he tried to get his still sleepy brain in gear. “I suppose it’s possible. It would be totally his style too. He could be half-way across the country by now.” 

“Yeah.” Sam sighed, and Dean, sleepy as he still was, tried to cheer him up.

“But hey, like I said last night, maybe they haven’t got here yet. There was no date on the note, so...y’know...maybe...they’re meeting in a couple of days? Huh?”

“Yeah maybe. So what do we do? Wait around here for something to happen? For how long, Dean?”

“Yeah, no, you’re right. We can’t sit on our thumbs here while the world goes to shit. Plus, we still gotta find Jack. How about we stay until the weekend, that’s two more nights, and if nothing’s happened by then, we’ll call it?”

“Right. Fine.” Sam cut himself off as the waitress came up with their orders, serving Dean a huge smile along with his waffles and bacon. 

Now that Dean was a bit more awake, he returned the smile before digging into his food. When they got the check, her number was written in pen at the bottom. Dean showed Sam with a smirk and got a trademark bitchface back.

The brothers passed the time with TV, research, and, in Dean’s case, nightly visits to the bar. Sam kept checking his go-to websites for weather patterns and crop reports, but no omens popped up. By Sunday afternoon they were both going stir crazy cooped up in the motel room, and still, there had been no signs. As a last resort, Dean called Cass. 

“Dean.”

“Cass. Any news?”

“No. The angels refuse to meet with me, and I can find no trace of Anael or Lucifer anywhere. What about you?”

“Uhm, well, we thought we got a lead, but it doesn’t seem to have panned out.”

“What? What kind of lead? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Yeah, well, it happened kinda sudden like, and there wasn’t really a good time to call you, buddy. And the last couple of days we’ve just been sitting on our asses waiting for a sign.”

“You’re going to have to be more specific, Dean.” Castiel sounded flustered, and Dean cleared his throat.

“It’s kind of a long story, I can give you the details when we get home, but long story short, we thought we had a lead on Sister Jo, that she was, or was gonna be, in Lawrence. We’ve been here for three days though, and nothing. No omens, no miracles, just a whole lotta jack with a side of squat.”

“I see. Where did this lead come from?”

“Again, later. For now, I need you to check your sources for anything going down in Lawrence.”

“Fine. Yes. I can do that. I’ll call you back.” And he hung up.

Dean huffed and set his phone aside, joining Sam in packing his things. It took about half an hour for Castiel to get back to them.

“Dean.”

“Yeah. What’s the word?”

“No one has heard anything about Lawrence. As far as I can tell, there is nothing ‘going down’ anywhere near there.”

“Dammit. Well, that figures. All right, well thank you for checking. Sam and I are heading back, we’ll be home later tonight. It’s only about a four-hour drive. If you meet us there, we’ll give you the full story.”

“Very well. I’ll see you both later.”

The air in the car on the ride back to the Bunker was heavy with disappointment. Not even the classic rock station on the radio could cheer the brothers up. They filled the tank before leaving Lawrence and drove non-stop back to the Bunker. As Dean turned the engine off in the Bunker’s garage, he looked over at Sam.

“Hey. Sammy. We’ll get him. One day, we’ll get that bastard. Ok?”

Sam sighed and refused to look at Dean. He grabbed his things and headed off to his room. Dean dropped his bag off in his own room and went in search of Castiel, finding the angel in the Library. In his angel way, he was sitting in a chair staring straight ahead at nothing, content to just sit there in silence.

Dean poured himself a glass of whiskey and sat down on the other side of the table, putting his feet up.

“Ok, so, here’s what happened…”

* * *

In his bedroom, Sam dropped the duffel next to the door with a heavy sigh. He fished the stuff out of his pockets, leaving them on the desk. As he was about to put his phone down on his bedside table, he remembered that he had promised Rebecca to let her know when it was safe. He scoffed to himself at that. No one was ever safe in this world, but at least she could go on with the illusion of safety. He scrolled through his call list and found her number, hesitating whether to call or just send off a text. After a moment, he opened a new text message.

 

**_Hey Rebecca. It's Sam Winchester._ **

**_Just letting you know I took care of the demon._ **

**_Well, my brother and I did._ **

**_Sorry it took me so long to get back to you._ **

 

 

He hit 'Send' and was just about to turn the ringer off and put the phone away when a new message came in.

 

_**Hey Sam!** _

_**Thank God!** _

_**And thank you!** _

_**If you or your brother ever need medical assistance, call me!** _

 

 

He smiled grimly at her message before turning his phone off and putting it away. He sprawled out on the bed and let out a deep sigh. 

_One day._


End file.
